Software AG > Case Studies > Unleashing Unlimited Agility with APIs and Integration: A Case Study on Clal Insurance

Unleashing Unlimited Agility with APIs and Integration: A Case Study on Clal Insurance

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Middleware, SDKs & Libraries

Applicable Industries

Buildings
Finance & Insurance

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development
Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Inventory Management
Usage-Based Insurance

Services

System Integration
Training

About The Customer

Clal Insurance is one of the leading insurance and pension companies in Israel. The company, founded in 1978, owns insurance agencies, pension funds, provident funds, training funds, and credit-granting companies. With 4,600 employees and 2,000 insurance agents, Clal is ranked as one of Israel’s leading long-term insurance and savings groups. Despite the competitive insurance industry in Israel, especially with the influx of new InsurTech startups, Clal has managed to maintain its position through continuous innovation and adaptation to changing market conditions.

The Challenge

Clal Insurance, a leading insurance and pension company in Israel, was facing a multitude of challenges. The insurance industry in Israel had become extremely competitive due to the influx of new InsurTech startups aiming to disrupt the market. This put Clal, a 34-year industry veteran, in a position where it needed to react quickly to outpace these startups, a task made difficult by the vast amount of data tied up in older systems. Additionally, Clal was grappling with a global financial crisis, aggressive changes in the regulatory landscape, and the challenge of low-to-zero interest rates. The company was also dealing with manual applications, growing SLA compliance risks, and rising business costs. To stay competitive and meet SLA requirements, Clal needed to innovate and adapt to these changing market conditions.

The Solution

Clal's approach to overcoming these challenges was a combination of integration to connect their own systems and API management to collaborate with external systems. The company credited much of its resilience to webMethods, its integration platform of record since 2002. Clal developed a central, unified platform to connect core systems with external partners, handling traffic reaching millions of files per month. This platform significantly reduced costs, time to market, and SLA compliance risks. In 2019, Clal started using webMethods for API management, which allowed them to eliminate duplicates among 25% of existing APIs, cut internal-external development times from months to weeks, and accrue financial savings. Clal also launched a new initiative called Simulators to automate manual insurance product forms, reducing time to approval, eliminating manual processing hours, and increasing agent and client satisfaction.

Operational Impact

Clal's innovative approach to integration and API management has unlocked new opportunities and set them apart in the competitive insurance market. The company's new way of automating manual insurance product forms through their Simulator initiative has significantly improved the time to approval and increased agent and client satisfaction. The central, unified platform developed by Clal has not only connected core systems with external partners but also handled traffic reaching millions of files per month, thereby massively cutting costs, time to market, and SLA compliance risks. The use of webMethods for API management has been key in developing Clal Express, a service that allows customers to avoid out-of-pocket costs and be reimbursed before they have to pay their bills. As Clal continues to adapt to emerging trends in the insurance market, their foundation of APIs and integration will continue to yield significant benefits.

Quantitative Benefit